S.I. Yankees stave off elimination for another day; All eyes on Spencer (photos)

The Staten Island Yankees fought off official elimination from the New York Penn League playoffs Thursday night with an impressive 9-1 victory over the visiting Vermont Lake Monsters at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George.

Just one more victory by the Brooklyn Cyclones (a 4-3 loser to Tri-City last night) or one loss by the Yanks in their last four games of the regular season will put an end to the postseason, but there is still plenty for the local fans to cheer for down the stretch.

And it has nothing to do with all the dogs in the house Thursday night on the Staten Island Yanks' Dog Days of Summer promotion in which customers were allowed to bring a four-legged friend to the game.

Yankee first baseman Connor Spencer entered Thursday's contest with an incredible .360 batting average, which would be good enough to win the NY-PL batting title by more than 40 points.

However, the UC Irvine star arrived with the team 14 games into the season because he was participating in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

League rules state that to win a batting title a player must average 2.7 plate appearances for every game his team plays.

Thursday night Spencer went 3 for 5 to raise his season average to .367, but the 21-year-old left-handed hitter will need to average a fraction over four at-bats per game in the final four contest to qualify.

"Coach (Mario Garza) pulled me aside last week and told me not to look for any rest over the last 10 games because I had a shot at getting enough at bats to win the league batting title," Spencer explained. "It's actually nothing new to me because I've gone through this before in high school a few times and college a couple times. But this is different."

Besides the 14 missing games, another reason Spencer is short is because of the league he plays in, obviously night's performance.

The New York Penn league is first and foremost a league that concentrates on developing players -- a distant second is winning.

Garza and his staff have done a brilliant job this season making sure that every player had a shot at showing off his skills, and no one plays every day in the rotation system -- not even when you're hitting near .370.

Eleven different batters got between 120 and 228 at bats, no matter what position they played, and that doesn't include another 242 at bats by players no longer with the club.

Pitching was no different.

Thirteen pitchers threw between 20 and 62 innings, not including 111 frames by hurlers no longer on the roster.

"This organization makes no bones about it you are here first of all to learn and develop, and if you win games, all the better," Spencer said. "And I couldn't agree more. Since I've been here I've learned how to play professional baseball. Not just baseball. I now know how to prepare myself both physically and mentally each and every day. A long season can wear you down, especially mentally. That's the difference between college ball where you may be play three or four days a week, and professional ball which is six or seven."

The nearest Spencer can figure he's played a little over 120 games this season between college and the pros, and when asked if the grueling schedule has had an effect on him, his answer was simple and to the point.

"That's why you have to stay sharp as you can each and every day to withstand the schedule," Spencer added. "But let's get serious, for an opportunity to step on a baseball field and eventually earn a living doing something you love most, nobody can ask for more than that."